4 players who could steal Opening Day roster spots for the Twins

We're officially in the thick of Spring Training, as everyone has reported and games are starting to get underway. The Minnesota Twins opened things up on Friday with a game against the Gophers but things will truly start to count on Saturday with a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

As such, players who are on the roster bubble will begin to be presented with opportunities to prove that they deserve a 26-man roster spot on Opening Day. We have a pretty good idea of what the bulk of that roster will look like, but it's far from being fully set.

Things remain fluid at the fringes, and a few guys could end up stealing an Opening Day roster spot if they can put together a solid enough spring.

4 players who could steal Opening Day roster spots for the Twins

Jorge Alcalá

Heading into this season the Twins will count bullpen as one of its key strengths, with FanGraphs ranking it as a top unit in the entire league. While largely neglecting additions to the starting rotation, Minnesota went out of its way to fortify the bullpen by adding guys like Josh Staumont, Jay Jackson, and Justin Topa.

One of the most impactful players could be someone who was already here: Jorge Alcalá.

Minnesota loves to find players who have run into some bad injury luck but have high enough upside that they could pay off as low-risk gambles. Alcalá is homegrown in that regard, as he showed insane levels of promise back in 2021 before suffering an injury that wiped out his 2022 campaign and forced him into the category of caveated pitchers who could be good if they can just stay healthy.

He's already seen MLB action, getting called up back in 2019 but truly making a mark three years later when he posted a 3.55 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings across 75 appearances for the Twins. He was looking to be a fixture in the bullpen after what he didn't between 2020 and 2021 but an injury ended his season after just two appearances in 2022 and he's been battling back ever since.

Aaron Gleeman wrote a glowing piece recently about how Alcalá seems to be on his way back, which means this spring could be huge for him getting back into the mix. His fastball velocity seems to be back,

If he can tap back into the pitcher he was at the start of the decade -- a guy who posted a 1.042 WHIP -- an already highly-touted Twins bullpen going to border on being potentially elite.

Brooks Lee

This one is pretty obvious, but Brooks Lee belongs on lists like this until he actually gets a roster spot. The good new is that he continues to outperform expectations and is on a fast track to making is debut before too long.

Lee was drafted just two years ago, and since then has been a fast riser through the Twins system. He's done so carrying the weight of being the Next Guy, and he has a chance to show everyone he has what it takes to carry the mantle this spring. Last year he went from a guy who could reach Triple-A to firmly getting there by September, and has now become a prospect who might get called up this season to vying quite seriously for a 26-man roster spot.

While he wasn't the sole reason, Lee's expected arrival contributed to an infield logjam that resulted in Jorge Polanco getting traded. He's also been increasingly teased as a call-up candidate with reports indicated he's nearly MLB-ready.

Everything we've seen so far would suggest those reports are not misguided.

He slashed .275/.347/.461 between stints in Wichita and St. Paul last year, which isn't world class production but the type of stuff that shows the sort of promise he has. A lot of his struggles have come due to the stress of pushing him through the farm system, which is something his Spring Training campaign will shed more light on.

Lee is a popular pick to make the Opening Dar roster, but the Twins are in the infancy of their schedule and there's a lot of runway left before decisions need to be made.

Lee no doubt has the makings of being an important piece of the future, but that's what we're hoping to learn more about over the next month. He's not a shoo-in to get a roster spot, but the foundation is there and he doesn't need to build a lot to once again exceed expectations when it comes to his ascension.

Louie Varland

This one feels a little less like the others because we've seen Louie Varland on the active roster in the past. He didn't do enough to fully earn the fifth starter spot in the rotation, but he's not out of the running to do that this spring if he can put together a convincing argument.

On paper, Minnesota trading for Anthony DeSclafani seemingly boxed Varland out of the rotation but he's going to get a chance to prove himself down in Fort Myers. Last year Varland finished the year 4-3 with a 4.63 ERA and a 0.5 WAR -- al of which was better than what his main competition managed in San Francisco.

DeSclafani posted a 4.88 ERA alongside a 4-8 record and a 0.2 WAR with the Giants, who were an admittedly worse team than the Twins but the results nonetheless count. There's upside with him, though, as injuries have hampered his production over the last few years and he's only three years removed from logging over 160 innings while turning in a a pair of complete game shutouts.

If the Twins can get that sort of performance out of DeSclafani this year it would make the Jorge Polanco trade worth it. Adjacently, if Varland can challenge himself to live up to that sort of level, the Twins will be in a prime position with a pair of back-end starters capable of effectively replacing Kenta Maeda's lost production.

Varland's ceiling seems to be as a No. 4/No. 5 starter, but a solid performance in Spring Training could earn him a spot in the bullpen. The point is he's firmly on the bubble with more ways of making the Opening Day roster than missing it -- what happens next is up to him.